Ablation therapy is a surgical technique used to destroy or remove tissue selectively to reduce or eliminate patient conditions. Many different technologies are directed to tissue ablation. Such technologies include electrical ablation, ultrasound ablation, cryoablation, conductive heating, radioactive heating, and combination ablation that includes more than one technology. Electrical ablation includes radio frequency (RF) ablation, microwave ablation, and other electrical ablation technologies that utilize electrical current to heat the target tissue. Another electrical ablation technique includes RF ablation and a fluid medium to heat and ablate the tissue. This technique utilizes devices commonly called “wet electrodes” which pass electrical current from the electrodes through an adjacent fluid. All of these techniques require user input to control the ablation therapy.
Ablation therapy systems commonly include user interfaces that allow a user to define the parameters of the ablation therapy, monitor the ablation therapy progress, or both. These user interfaces may include simple switches and dials, individual electrical inputs and outputs, complex user interfaces such as cathode ray tubes (CRT) or liquid crystal displays (LCD), or a combination of these types of controls. The user interacts with the user interface to correctly deliver ablation therapy to the patient and monitor progress to stop therapy before ablating healthy tissue or otherwise harming the patient. In some cases, user interfaces are directed to a particular patient anatomy or ablation therapy.
One example of an ablation therapy is treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). BPH is a condition caused by the second period of continued prostate gland growth. This growth begins after a man is approximately 25 years old and may begin to cause health problems after 40 years of age. The prostate growth eventually begins to constrict the urethra and may cause problems with urination and bladder functionality. Ablation therapy attempts to create a lesion in the prostate and decrease the prostate size, restoring appropriate bladder function.